Margaret "Peggy" S. Shaw

Margaret Shaw of Youngstown passed away Monday, February 26, 2024, at the age of 100. Born in Youngstown on November 5, 1923, the only daughter of Fred C. and Emma Stoll, she attended the former Washington Elementary School on Youngstown’s west side into the 5th grade; it was there where she sang her first solo. The family moved to Boardman in 1934 and Margaret (better known as Peggy) graduated from Boardman High School in 1941. She then earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the College of Wooster in 1945.

Peggy had a beautiful coloratura voice. She performed extensively during her college years and was a soloist with the renowned Girls’ Chorus. In preparation for an intended professional singing career in New York, she spent a post-graduate year at the College where she met Howard Shaw, just returning from military service, whose hometown was Wooster. They married on June 22, 1946, and promptly moved to New York City. There Peggy sang in various choirs in the area and worked for 37 years at the American Museum of Natural History in the Herpetology Department. She retired from the Museum in 1992 as Assistant to the Department Chairman; she was an Honorary Life Member of the Museum.

In 1993, she and Howard, who was a concert and opera singer, moved back to Ohio and settled first in Boardman, and then in Poland. Peggy was preceded in death by Howard, three brothers: William, Frederick (who died in a hospital in Germany having been injured in combat in World War II, and Robert. She is survived by a brother, C. Raymond Stoll, and many nieces and nephews, along with grand nieces and nephews.

Peggy originally was a member of the former Grace Lutheran Church in Youngstown. Upon moving back to this area, Peggy and Howard joined Bethel Lutheran Church. Any donations in her memory may be sent to the Bethel Lutheran Church Memorial Fund at 425 Crestview Dr., Boardman, OH 44512.

Services will be held at the Lane Funeral Home Canfield Chapel, at 11:00 AM on Friday, March 1, 2024; with a visitation hour starting at 10:00 AM.